If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know we love all sorts of cooking and baking in the Whiteman house. Between myself and Martin, we’ve got baking and cooking sorted. We love meat and having meat delivered to our door was something we’ve often entertained, but hadn’t had the opportunity to do… until now.

I was recently asked to review the services of Westin Gourmet Meats and their ‘one time offer‘ deal, a selection of meats delivered straight to your door. This package consist of:

We received the parcel on the arranged date and when it arrived, it was beautifully packed in a insulated box with freezer bags ensuring the meat arrived at its freshest.

Keen to start cooking, we opted for the Aberdeen and Hereford steaks as our first meal. Both steaks were equal in size – 6oz – which was the perfect size for one person.

Out of the packaging, you could tell the steaks were of high quality and cut by an experienced butcher.

We grilled both steaks at the same time, but made sure to keep them separated so we could tell the difference for a taste test.

As it was a mid-week meal, we didn’t want it to be heavy so we just served the steaks with a generous helping of garden peas.

Both of the sirloin steaks were excellently grilled (thank you, Martin) and were very tender (thank you Westin Gourmet). We cut the steaks in half so that both of us could enjoy the regional differences of each sirloin steak. Martin preferred the meatier flavour of the Aberdeen, while I preferred the sweeter Hereford, but we both agreed that both steaks were amazing and probably one of the best steaks we’ve ever had. I would highly recommend steaks from Westin Gourmet and can’t wait to get cooking the rest of the meat from the delivery.

*This is a review. I was sent the meat at no charge from Westin Gourmet, but all views and opinions are my own. Please keep reading as I’ll be featuring more meats from Westin Gourmet in the coming weeks. Next up – Corn fed chicken!*

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As part of the Mumsnet and My Farm project to re-connect our children with where food comes from, Farmers Whiteman3 went out to the National Trust Wimpole Estate to see what the farm was all about.

Upon entry to the Home Farm, we came across some of the cows. I asked MiniG what came from cows and he correctly answered “Milk”. He had great fun on the milking demo. It’s a shame we missed the proper demo to see Gerty in action.

Before moving to the UK, the most involved with livestock I got was deciding how many cattle to buy when putting together my wagon train playing Oregon Trail. I’m fascinated by farm life and living off “the fat of the land”. I really admire what River Cottage has done for this industry and especially what My Farm is doing to involve us “regular joes” in the farming decision making process.

The next vote is about deciding which breed gets a bull. I’ll be reading up on the differences between Shetlands, Gloucesters and Irish Moileds – all of which are rare breeds.

You see this sign on the packages of meat you buy in supermarkets, but it really puts it into perspective to see where they live and how they are raised.

Beef isn’t on our weekly menu as much as I’d like, and as such Mini G didn’t know that in addition to milk, beef comes from cows. I explained to him that this is where roast beef comes from before we buy it in the shops.

I love pigs.

I think they might just be my favourite of the farm animals. It might go back to my love of Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web, who knows… The pig is a well revered animal in our house as its meat provides us with a lot of meals. Mini G knows that his bacon, ham and sausages come from a pig.

Buying local is really important for ecological and sustainability. Knowing where your food comes from and that it is quality makes cooking – and eating – much more pleasurable.

The My Farm community is a great opportunity to re-connect where food comes from for adults as well as children. Since visiting, Mini G talks a lot more about what he’s eating and where it comes from.

Watch this space for the verdict of the vote which closes on 13th February.